Stars

As a person who does NOT commune with nature (see here ) imagine my surprise when I thoroughly enjoyed myself Saturday night.

It had been a cool day, and went into a cool evening. We have a table on the back patio with a small fire pit in the center. I mentioned that it would be a great night for a fire, so we Alex went to gather some wood (actually "borrow" some from U.T.'s stash) and we finally got a little fire going.

What's a fire without the famous s'mores??? So outside I bring the graham crackers, the Hershey chocolate bars and the marshmallows, in addition to the long bbq fork. A couple of minutes later Alex walks out with a big bowl and paper plates. From the big bowl he pulls out a package of hot dogs, a package of buns, and a bottle of ketchup.

We were set.

The s'mores came out pretty good. The hot dogs, on the other hand, didn't. Alex had no idea what he was doing and just couldn't get the hot dogs to cook properly. He put the first one down in the fire and the outside burnt up pretty quick. He put it on the bun with ketchup and eagerly took the first bite.

"It's cold in the middle!"

"Yep, that's what happens when you heat it up too fast...the outside burns and the inside doesn't get warm."

He threw it, bun and all, into the yard. Ted and I both yelled, "Alex!" and off he went to get the flashlight and find the hot dog. I have NO IDEA where he got the great idea that it was okay to just throw a partially eaten hot dog into the yard!

Eventually I heated up a hot dog and it came out just fine. Of course Alex wasted several in the meantime, trying to come up with the perfect method for cooking one. Ted and I both told him to just put it in the microwave and it would be fine for him!

After a while, Joey commented that we all looked like "rednecks" sitting out there around the fire, so he wanted to go inside. Honestly, where DOES he get that attitude?!?!

Then Ted and Alex were cold, so they went inside.

I, on the other hand, STAYED OUTSIDE!

I was watching the fire burn, and it was so mesmerizing...I really enjoyed that. I put my head back and looked up at the clear night sky and saw hundreds (well maybe several dozen anyhow) stars. They were so bright and clear. Of course it really helped that I had my glasses on for once too.

I must have stayed out there for at least half an hour, all by myself, watching the fire and looking at the stars...it was actually very nice.

And that, my friends, is about as close to nature as I get.